"Aidan, wait," she cried, grappling to free herself, but he'd pinned her arms to her sides. "Listen to me!"
He didn't. "I was true to you, Valkyrie!" The rune stone began to crack under his assault. "I will slaughter any who've touched you. ..."
Seeing no other recourse, she sank her fangs into one of the thick muscles of his chest.
He seemed not to feel it. She bit harder until she'd drawn blood.
Final y he slowed. "You're biting me?" he slurred.
With a rol of her eyes, she released him.
"If you mean to pain me, you will have to do better than that. I've had nine years of perfect misery."
"I had to do something to make you listen. Aidan, I've never been touched. Not that it should matter- since you are certainly no innocent."
He sagged against her in relief.
She added sarcastical y, "My virgin's blood is still yours to spill."
He took her words seriously. "'Tis mine by right. You belong to me! If there'd been another, I would make him eat his own entrails."
She blinked up at him. "And these are your words of sentiment?"
"There's no poetry in me, Reginleit. No fine words." He stared down at her, his gaze seeming to consume her. "I come to you as a man unfinished."
Raw, grim male.
He took her hands in his bloodied, cal used ones. "Accept me?" His eyes glowed, his lashes spiked from rain.
Lightning struck then and her breath caught-he had a face made even more beautiful in the blaze of lightning. "Warlord, you once told me I'd always know what you're thinking. What are your thoughts now?"
"Partly, I'm thinking that I might shame myself in my trews, just from the feel of you next to me." One of his hands snaked around to cover her backside, gripping her there.
"Oh!"
"And partly, I'm fearing I will frighten you away again."
"You did not frighten me away before. Nothing frightens me."
"Then why did you leave me?"
"Because you would not listen to me. You sought to take away my freedom."
"And give you mine in turn, woman! Then why've you come to me now?"
"Mostly because of ... the change. When beset by these needs, I came to you to have them eased."
Again, he went still . "You came to me," he repeated hoarsely. "To your man. Reginleit, you make my chest bow with pride." His lips curled. "And my shaft swel . I'm greedy to sample these generous new curves you've brought me."
"My looks please you?" She straightened her shoulders self-consciously. "I fear I did not grow tall."
"Please me?" He laughed from deep in his chest. "You stun me. Ah, little wife, if you did not grow up, you certainly grew out." One of his hands dropped to cover a breast, giving it a tender squeeze. When he shuddered with delight, she felt a thril down to her toes.
"And you came to me to ease you here?" His other hand trailed down between them to gently cup her sex.
She gasped. "Y-yes."
His eyes burned with excitement, with possession, with pride. "I'm going to make your lightning rain down." He pressed the heel of his palm harder, and her head fel back.
"Ah, yes! Make love to me, warlord."
"Words from fantasy. But I cannot. I need more time."
She lifted her head. "I do not understand."
"I want more of you. I want eternity."
"What are you speaking of?"
"If I deflower a Valkyrie before wedding her, I will never earn ohal a. Woden would never gift me with it."
"Wed?" She yanked his hand from her. "Immortals cannot wed mortals! It's unnatural." To watch him die a little each day, until he withered with age ...
"Precisely. So I must be of your kind. And even were it not forbidden, I still would not wed you without ohal a. I know of no warrior older than sixty winters. I've forty. Two decades should be but a taste of life with you."
In a crestfal en tone, she said, "You want me to ... wait?" Her plan was foiled, utterly. Not only would she not get what she came for, she'd be punished for trying.
"Only to be claimed. Rest assured, I'll sate you in other ways til then."
But she wanted to know everything, to experience it all . "How many battles do you have left?"
He lifted his chin. "A mere six dozen or so."
"Are there even that many wars?" she cried.
"Between the vampires and the unal ied demonarchies, a lifetime of war awaits."
"Seventy battles could take years! I came here because I wanted you to be my first lover."
"By all the gods, I will be, woman. But not yet. You wait for me, Reginleit. I will seize ohal a for you, for us."
"And what would you expect me to do while you are out fighting? My Valkyrie nature hungers for war as much as yours does. And I hold no love for vampires." Her mother's people, the Radiant Ones, had been exterminated by them.
"You will remain behind-"
Eyes widening, she opened her mouth to give him a blistering reply.
"-to train, as all my men do before they go to battle," he finished.
"Train?" she scoffed. "I've readied for war all my life."
"Using the wrong weapon. You still wield your long sword?"
"Yes."
"With your smallheight and Valkyrie speed, you should be fighting with two short swords. I could teach you how."
She pursed her lips, reluctantly intrigued by that idea. "And once I am trained ..." she prompted.
As if the words were pulled from him, he said, "You can join me at the front. But only after I deem you ready."
She dug one fang into her bottom lip, actual y considering his offer.
He must have taken her silence as acceptance, because he leaned down to kiss her neck, his mouth so hot in the rain. Against her skin, he rasped, "And, brightling, know this ..." His tongue flicked out to lick drops from her. "I vow to you now, I will be your last lover."
She couldn't think when he was doing that! "I-I haven't agreed to this. Am I to have no say? Again?"
He inhaled as if for control, then raised his head. "Give me a chance, and I will claim your heart. all I need is time."
She didn't believe that could happen. An immortal like her could never ful y love a mortal. Her instincts would rebel against tender feelings like that.
After all , she could never give her heart to a man who would take it to the grave with him, leaving her broken and yearning for eternity.